Gooden Sputters In Playoff Tuneup

By JOSEPH DURSO, Special to the New York Times

Published: September 29, 1988

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 28—
As dress rehearsals go, this one was reasonably important: Dwight Gooden pitching for the final time in the regular season before opening the playoff for the National League pennant Tuesday in Los Angeles against Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers. And Gooden was 0 and 3 in the playoff and World Series two years ago.

''It's the final workout,'' the 23-year-old ace of the Mets' staff said. ''It's a lot like your last start in spring training before opening day.''

It was a lot like spring training in more ways than one. The Phillies, last in the league in team hitting and pitching and second last in fielding, scored two runs off Gooden in the first inning and two more in the third on a no-nonsense home run by the rookie Ron Jones. Then they swatted him for five singles and three more runs in the fifth. And by then, Gooden was working strictly for the exercise.

He quit exercising after the fifth, and left with spring-training numbers: 10 hits and 7 earned runs. He also left with 3 losses in his final four games and a record of 18 victories and 9 defeats.

The Mets got only two hits and no runs off Kevin Gross in the first six innings, finally nailed him for three runs in the seventh but left Philadelphia with a 9-3 loss. Back-to-Back Home Runs

Two of their hits were dramatic enough. Darryl Strawberry opened the seventh inning by hitting a home run to center field, his 37th of the season, and Kevin McReynolds hit the next pitch over the fence in left field for his 27th. McReynolds now has batted in 98 runs; Strawberry, 97. It was the seventh time this season that two Mets had hit home runs in succession.

Gooden seemed strong in the final days of the season. However, he missed his chance to win 20 games when he lost two of his last three before tonight by scores of 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates and 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

''I'm healthy and happy,'' Gooden said. ''The team's playing good ball these days. I think we're ready for the playoff.''

The Mets did seem to be suffering from an epidemic of head colds and Keith Hernandez was still treading lightly on his right hamstring muscle, which was torn three months ago. But Gooden reported no twinges in his right shoulder, which stiffened at times last month.

The Mets will close the regular season with three games against the Cardinals in Shea Stadium this weekend, then head for Los Angeles and their second playoff in three years. Attendence Drop for Phils

The Phillies found that last place doesn't pay: They closed their home season with an attendance of 1,990,041, a drop of about 110,000 from last year.